Paying the price of freedom

Colleen Czaplicki and her family started a fund in honor of her son, Sgt. John “Kyle” Daggett, an Army Ranger who died last year of injuries suffered in Iraq. She wears one of his ID tags around her neck as she works at a fireworks stand off Andresen Road. (Photos by Zachary Kaufman/The Columbian)

Daggett, pictured right, died May 15, 2008, of injuries suffered two weeks earlier in Iraq. His fiancée, Megan Jacobson, center, and mother are selling fireworks to help build wheelchair-accessible, specially equipped homes for two severely wounded Oregon soldiers. (Photos by Zachary Kaufman/The Columbian)

Sgt. John "Kyle" Daggett didn't get to come home from Iraq.

Now his memory will help make homecoming a little easier for two severely wounded soldiers.

Daggett's family members and friends are operating two fireworks stands in Clark County, with the proceeds going to the national "Homes for Our Troops" project.

A memorial fund in Daggett's name was established a year ago through a Vancouver philanthropic organization, the Community Foundation.

Daggett, 21, was gravely injured May 1, 2008, when a rocket-propelled grenade hit his vehicle. The Army Ranger took a turn for the worse during his flight back to the U.S., and the plane made an emergency landing in Canada. He died in a hospital in Nova Scotia on May 15.

"This is our first fundraiser," Colleen Czaplicki, the soldier's mother, said Thursday morning. Czaplicki, who lives in Arizona, was part of the team staffing the fireworks stand off Andresen Road, in the Kmart parking lot.

"Sixteen of us came here from Arizona to work on this," said Czaplicki, who wears one of her son's ID tags around her neck.

The group is also operating a fireworks stand in Camas, at 1806 N.E. Third Ave. The proceeds will benefit two Oregon soldiers who were injured in Iraq.

Army Spc. Kevin Pannell's unit was ambushed June 13, 2004, while on patrol in Baghdad. A grenade damaged both legs. He underwent 13 operations, including the amputation of both legs — one below and one above the knee. The Pannell family lives in an apartment that is not wheelchair-accessible.

Staff Sgt. Christian Bagge was injured June 3, 2005, near Kirkuk in northern Iraq. His convoy was checking the route for roadside bombs when an improvised explosive device blew up near his Humvee. Now a double-amputee, Bagge also lives in a home that is not wheelchair-accessible. All the bedrooms are upstairs and the doorways are not large enough for a wheelchair.

Daggett's uncle, Washougal resident Tracy Phillips, was the link between the local Community Foundation and the Arizona branch of the family. Phillips also was the link between the Sgt. John "Kyle" Daggett Foundation and the Homes for Our Troops campaign.

Phillips is general manager of the lumber division of a building-supply center, Precision Truss & Lumber, in Clackamas, Ore.

"I got a postcard a month ago from the Homes for Our Troops office," maybe because he was in the building industry, Phillips said.

His family had already been planning the fireworks fund-raising effort.

"We just didn't know where the money was going to go," and the home-building project looked like a good fit, Phillips said.

Vicki Thomas, spokeswoman for Homes for Our Troops organization, said they're still trying to acquire land for the Bagge and Pannell projects.

"We've completed 40 homes, where the keys have been presented," she said. "Thirty houses are in various stages of construction, and we're in land acquisition for about 10."

That's not the extent of their home-building ambitions.

"About 200 veterans are on the waiting list," Thomas said. "We won't promise a house that we can't fund. This year, we have a commitment to build 30. In 2010, we will hit our 100th house," she said.

"Each home takes into account the special adaptations for each severely injured veteran," Thomas said. "For a paraplegic or quadriplegic, they're outfitted with lifts and technology for voice activation to open doors and turn on TVs."

Tom Vogt: 360-735-4558 or tom.vogt@columbian.com.